"To hold the line until the last drop of blood left this body mine,

To obey and respect those to whom this sword had been pledged to,

To defend and to protect, even at the cost of mine own life,

To uphold the honor of knights, the values of chivalry, unto the last breath,

On my blade, with the gods as my witness, so I solemnly swear, and may Tohrmut damn my soul should this pledge be broken." - Ceremonial pledge of newly instated knights, from the archives of the Kingdom of Posuin.

Dame Graciela Vasquez, Knight-Captain for the Duchy of Dvergarder, cursed her luck silently. She had hoped that she could bring her Young Lady home without further complications, but had expected and prepared for trouble.

What she had not expected was for the trouble to be of this magnitude. As she sat astride her old mare, her eye peering into a spyglass, she estimated that there were maybe fifty of the enemies… in each direction.

She had all of twenty-four knights and eleven maids with her, as she did not wish to risk either the Young Lady or the foreign healer, which left her outnumbered by more than three to one. Not good odds by any means.

Someone had wanted her Young Lady dead, and it was not hard to tell that it was likely the same party that tried to get her Young Lady killed in the arena at Knallgant.

Graciela had almost caused a diplomatic incident back when she saw her Young Lady crippled and almost killed in the sands, and she had only calmed down when the Markgraf's own consort had come and assured her that the Young Lady was alive and being treated.

It still surprised her that the crippling injuries she saw happen to her charge had left not even a mark. The healer was supposedly lent by the Markgraf as an apology and to make sure there were no side effects of the Young Lady's injuries, though from her looks she had not looked like a local in any way.

When the healer woman had also freely used her craft on her and fixed some old aches and strains from decades old injuries, Graciela was convinced that the healer was the real deal, despite her young look, and had taken her presence as a token of sincerity from the dwarves.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Gods know they would most likely require her services after the battle, should they survive this mess, which was why Graciela had asked the woman to stay safe with the Young Lady and the five younger maids.

The six older maids had lined up next to the knights in the back row, as they lifted crossbows to their shoulders and took aim. Laid down by their feet were long spears, to use after discarding the crossbows.

Even the maids of the ducal house were trained for combat, precisely for situations like these, yet despite her training, Graciela couldn't help but feel pessimistic about the situation, given the enemy numbers.

When the first wave of enemies - they dressed like mounted bandits and looked the part, but their tight formation hinted at prior training and military discipline - drew close, the waiting defenders loosed bolts as one from their crossbows.

Graciela saw how a few bandits fell from their horses in each direction, how a couple of the horses stumbled and fell down as well, which threw the front of the formation into some mess.

Her knights followed their training, and quickly dropped their crossbows, as the frontline got back to their feet and brought out their swords and shields in place. The backline wielded long spears from behind the shield wall of their comrades, while the two older maids reloaded their crossbows as fast as they could.

They got a second shot before the bandits came too close to try for another, and picked up their spears as well, as they stabbed at the approaching bandits. Horses balked at the spears, a couple reared and threw their riders off, before the bandits dismounted and continued their assault on foot.

The knights held strong for a while, but before long, they began to fall back from the push, as the bandits started to overwhelm them with numbers. Several already sported injuries despite their armor, yet fought on relentlessly.

Eventually however, someone slipped up. One of the younger knights fell down after a mace struck her leg, and although her teammates managed to save her, their formation cracked for a moment, which allowed the bandits to break through.

Graciela wheeled her horse in that direction, and urged her mount to a speedy gallop the moment she saw the knight fall. She reached there just as the first bandit broke through the lines, and mercilessly cleaved his head into halves with her axe from above.

Her steed reared on her command, and struck another two bandits with the hooves of its forelegs. The kick was more than hard enough to throw them backwards, likely with their bones shattered.

While her aid helped stabilize the situation Graciela couldn't be in multiple places at once. Before long, and while she was still busy supporting the side that breached first, the bandits broke through the other two sides.

Graciela braced herself for what she knew would happen next, but there was little else she could do. Her hands were full with the situation at her side, and all she could do was pray that the Young Lady would make it out alive and well.

Much like she expected, the Young Lady led some of the braver maids towards one of the breaches. What had surprised Graciela on the glance she dared to take, was to see the young healer headed towards the other breach.

She could have sworn that the woman was unarmed, but now the healer held a long, black metallic staff in her hands, and with a flick of her thumb, wicked, sharp blades snapped into place from one end of the staff.

Then the woman struck the bandits with a force that surprised even the veteran knight in Graciela.